Saturday, 29 July 2017

Game of Thrones Continues to Level Up Fan Engagement on YouTube

Which Game of Thrones episodes have generated the most activity on YouTube? With Season 7 of Game of Thrones now under way, we can see how it compares to previous seasons by totaling views of Game of Thrones–related videos uploaded on an episode’s air date, plus two days.




  • The Season 7 premiere generated the most activity on YouTube compared to any other premiere, Seasons 1–6.
  • The Season 6 finale generated the most activity of any Game of Thrones episode.
  • Based on historic trends, we expect Season 7 to continue an upward trajectory and surpass views set by Season 6. 
  • Season 3, Episode 9 (“The Rains of Castamere,” also known as “The Red Wedding”) is the third most popular.

When it comes to the most popular elements from Game of Thrones, we examined characters and houses from the show to determine the most popular, using views on videos related to each:




  • Daenerys and House Targaryen are among the most popular on YouTube.
  • The Starks (including Jon Snow) total four of the top 10 characters.

Will Daenerys continue to remain the top character through Season 7? Will the Season 7 finale surpass the finale from Season 6? Once the season concludes in August 2017, we will eagerly update the results.

Sunday, 2 July 2017

The Songs and Artists that Spike in Popularity on America’s Birthday


What's the perfect soundtrack to a Fourth of July BBQ? According to YouTube data, it is likely to include the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Toby Keith, Lee Greenwood, and Neil Diamond, amongst other holiday musical standouts.

In celebration of America’s birthday, we crunched the numbers on past Fourth of July listening patterns and uncovered the artists and songs that receive the biggest year-to-year holiday spikes. For example, Bruce Springsteen’s "Born in the U.S.A." saw a 2300% views increase on July 4th when compared to its typical daily averages, while country staple Lee Greenwood received a 2100% bump across his entire catalog on past Independence Days. The two artists also prove to be massive regional favorites, having the largest percent increase in views in every state but Delaware, where John Mellencamp landed the honor.

Other notable acts experiencing annual lifts include Fall Out Boy, Trace Adkins, and DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, whose 1991 hit "Summertime" also saw recent peaks in viewership on Memorial Day and the summer solstice. See below for the full list of musicians and tracks that earned the most holiday growth:


  • This list is led by Lee Greenwood, who’s track “God Bless the USA” brings his music to the forefront on YouTube.
  • At #2, Toby Keith’s many patriotic anthems (e.g., “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue”, “American Soldier”, and “Made In America”) elevate his popularity on July 4th.
  • At #10, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince benefit from the aforementioned resurgence of their hit “Summertime.”



With the exception of “Pink Houses” in Delaware, “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood and “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen have the largest percent increase in views on July 4th across the rest of the 49 states.



Nationally, the remaining top 10 include songs by Neil Diamond, Fall Out Boy, and Trace Adkins:


    These tracks speak to the diversity of the US community, from country music to pop punk  – something to keep in mind while you get started on your playlist for this weekend.

    Friday, 30 June 2017

    Canadian Pop Culture Capitals, according to YouTube

    In honor of Canada Day, we decided to look at which Canadian cities are most interested in the country’s cultural icons. Specifically, we picked a number of Canada-related topics, determining which city had the largest percentage of its June views devoted to the topic. Does Toronto watch the most hockey-related content? Does Ottawa dominate when it comes to watching videos about snowshoeing? Which Canadian city is most interested in poutine? We’ve crunched the numbers for Canada’s largest cities and have the findings below:


    • Classic Canadian musicians are most popular in Laval, QC, with The Tragically Hip and Montreal’s own Leonard Cohen coming up on top.
    • Canada’s animals are most-loved in Ontario, with views of Beavers highest in Brampton and views of moose-related videos highest in Toronto.
    • Timmies, aka Tim Hortons, is one of Canada’s best-loved fast-food chains, and views of videos related to it are highest in Burnaby, BC.
    • Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is most-watched in Edmonton (same with The Weeknd, who grew up in Toronto).

    Friday, 16 June 2017

    Which Game Won E3? The Views Are In

    E3 2017, one of the most anticipated events for the gaming industry, has just concluded. The YouTube Gaming hub gave fans a front row seat to the three-day expo, tracking trailers, press conferences, and event highlights.

    Now that it’s over, we can determine how fans responded. Which game received the most buzz on YouTube? We totaled views of trailer releases, industry coverage, and fan-uploaded reactions to determine which game stole the show.

    Which Game Won E3 on YouTube?

    Among the 200+ games with a major announcement at E3, “Star Wars Battlefront II” had the most views of any title.




    This ranking includes all videos related to the title, including trailers, official gameplay, media coverage, and fan-uploaded reactions. Notably, EA’s press conference included four of the titles in our top 10, a nod to the strength of its showcase.

    Which Trailer Won E3?

    During E3, “Star Wars Battlefront 2” was both the #1 most-viewed trailer, and the most popular game across all videos uploaded to YouTube, with over 7.9M views.

    In second place is the “Super Mario Odyssey” trailer with 5.5 million views. It was one of the last titles to be announced at E3, so its ranking is even more impressive given that it proceeded the “Star Wars Battlefront 2” trailer release by three days.

    The Top 10 Most-viewed Trailers* from E3 (June 9 - 14, 2017)

    1. Star Wars Battlefront 2: Official Gameplay Trailer - 7.9M views
    2. Super Mario Odyssey - Game Trailer - Nintendo E3 2017 - 5.5M views
    3. Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4) 2017 E3 Gameplay - 4.5M views
    4. FIFA 18 | THE JOURNEY: HUNTER RETURNS | OFFICIAL TEASER TRAILER - 4.0M views
    5. Need for Speed Payback Official Gameplay Trailer - 3.4M views
    6. Official Call of Duty®: WWII – Multiplayer Reveal Trailer - 3.3M views
    7. Forza Motorsport 7 - E3 2017 - 4K Announce Trailer - 3.1M views
    8. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle: E3 2017 Announcement Trailer | Ubisoft [US] - 3.0M views
    9. South Park: The Fractured But Whole: E3 2017 Official Trailer – Time to Take a Stand | Ubisoft [US] - 2.7M views
    10. Assassin's Creed Origins: E3 2017 Gameplay Trailer [4K] | Ubisoft [US] - 2.6M views
    *Includes official trailers, teasers, and gameplay released after June 8, 2017. Excludes titles where the E3 announcement primarily involved add-ons, upgrades or an existing release on a new platform.

    Stay tuned to the YouTube Gaming hub – we’ll announce the winner of the E3 Trailer Battle based on fan votes shortly!

    Friday, 12 May 2017

    Moms Empowering Moms

    This Mother’s Day, we celebrate the moms of YouTube. For the past several years, tens of thousands of creators have contributed to a thriving community of mothers on YouTube, helping new mothers with swaddling tutorials, mom hacks, edible play-dough recipes, and morning routines.

    Every year, this community continues to expand. Views of mother-related content grew 81 percent between 2015 and 2016. More importantly, videos related to education and tips for moms grew a staggering 98 percent over the same period.

    Rising Moms

    To understand who’s behind this growth, we sought out the “emerging” mom creators. These are moms and families who began their channels in 2016 and quickly amassed hundreds of thousands (and, in one case, millions) of subscribers.

    With Mother’s Day around the corner, let’s recognize seven new (i.e., they began within the past 18 months) mom and family creators who, as of May 2017, have gained the most subscribers. Collectively, they’ve amassed over 7 million subscribers and have had an outsized impact on the expanding community of mothers on YouTube.

    Bramty Juliette - 387,000 subscribers. Channel started in February 2016



    Some of Bramty’s most successful videos have been her open advice to other moms, including Q&A about her experience as teen parents. “Day-in-the-life” and “routine” videos are often shared in the mom community, and Bramty’s “Mommy Morning Routine” is a hit with over 1.4M views.

    The Ingham Family - 396,000 subscribers. Channel started in December 2015.



    For the past 14 months, Sarah and Chris Ingham have been actively vlogging their family of six, uploading over 420 videos to YouTube. Their Christmas Morning Special has proved incredibly popular, receiving over 23 million views to date.

    Mila Diverte - 487K Subscribers. Channel started in January 2017.



    Mila Diverte has only uploaded five videos in four months, but has already gained over 400,000 subscribers. The rapid viewership is a result of the breakout success in Brazil of the channel Planeta das Gêmeas (2.2M subscribers in 14 months!), which she stars in with her two twin girls. Her most popular video is a Smoothie Challenge, which stars the twins as well.

    Mama Rug - 512K subscribers. Channel started in early 2017.



    Over the course of a few months, Mama Rug has gained over 500K subscribers. She’s had some help – her son is FaZe Rug, who has an enormous following, with over 5 million subscribers and close to 900 million lifetime views. While her son often participates in videos, many of Mama Rug’s uploads are wisdom-filled monologues about bullying, dealing with a breakup, and cooking.

    We Are the Davises - 587K subscribers. Channel started in late 2015.



    This family of four is known for their challenge videos, such as The Gummy Food Challenge, Pancake Art Challenge, and Full Face Rhinestones Challenge. The Davises even launched their own gaming channel.

    Slyfox Family - 700K subscribers. Channel started in December 2015.



    The Slyfox Family are prolific creators, uploading over 450 videos since their first vlog 15 months ago. The family of four has documented their adventures, including a 28-million-view-pool party, an at-home roller coaster, and nose piercings.

    Domo and Krissy - 1.4 million subscribers. Channel started in early 2016.



    Domo and Krissy is one of the most unique channels to launch last year. It started as a couple vlogging their relationship, but over the past 12 months, has been a day-by-day documentation of Domo’s fertility treatment, learning she’s pregnant, the pregnancy process, and the birth of her son, Domonic (last month). And they haven’t stopped, uploading the baby’s first bath, first photo shoot, and family outing.

    Tuesday, 14 February 2017

    The Musicians Who Get Love On Valentine’s Day

    Last year, we examined the songs that YouTube viewers are most likely to share on Valentine’s Day. This year, we analyzed musicians who see their biggest viewership increases on Valentine’s Day.

    Among all musicians on YouTube, Martina McBride’s music has had the largest increase in views on Valentine’s Day. When compared to an average day on YouTube, her content receives 2.8x more views on Feb 14th.

    For example, here are views for McBride’s music over the past two years.



    It’s no surprise that fans revisit her music on Valentine’s Day: McBride’s most popular song on YouTube is “Valentine,” with nearly 21M views since the beginning of 2016.


    • Other top 10 artists on Valentine’s Day include Kina Grannis (2.1x higher), Barry White (1.53x higher), Outkast (1.3x higher), and Lionel Richie (1.21x higher).
    • In the U.S., Whitney Houston has the #1 spot for musicians who see the largest increase in views of their music (2.7x). Other artists unique to the U.S. include Chaka Khan (1.7x) and Savage Garden (1.5x).
    • In the U.K., R&B royalty Keith Sweat (1.6x), K-Ci & JoJo (1.5x), and Brian McKnight (1.5x) break into the top 10.

    We also looked at musical trends for Valentine’s Day in 2017. While this year will be tough to predict, we’ve noticed a couple surprising insights:

    • David Bowie’s “Valentine’s Day” should continue to rise in popularity. Last year on Valentine’s Day, David Bowie’s untimely passing led his song “Valentine’s Day” to break into the top 10 songs with “valentine” in the title. It surged 400 percent on February 14, 2016, vs. the year prior.
    • When it comes to love songs (songs with “love” in the title), Justin Bieber had the top spot on Valentine’s Day in 2016 with “Love Yourself,” and he’s primed to repeat this feat in 2017. Among all of this year’s songs with “love” in title, DJ Snake’s “Let Me Love You” ft. Justin Bieber is the most popular, amassing nearly 200M views since its release.



    Friday, 3 February 2017

    The Super Bowl Halftime Show’s Biggest Acts & Their Fans On YouTube

    From iconic solo performers such as James Brown and Michael Jackson, to supergroups like The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the Super Bowl Halftime show has become one of the game’s most anticipated events. Considering the number of legendary musicians who have performed, we began to wonder: how does an artist’s Super Bowl performance help grow their fanbase on YouTube?

    The Impact a Super Bowl Halftime Performance has on Artists' Subscribers

    Last year, we examined the views bumps that artists’ videos receive following their Super Bowl performances. This year, we decided to focus on YouTube subscribers


    Looking back at the artists who have performed in the past 4 years, it was Destiny’s Child who had the greatest increase in official channel subscribers following the 2013 Super Bowl, with an increase of 427%. For this same performance, Beyoncé herself saw an increase of 196%. The huge increase in subscribers on the official Destiny’s Child YouTube channel was most likely due to the long-awaited reunion of the group, who had not performed together since 2007.

    When Beyoncé returned to perform at the Super Bowl in 2016, she saw a subscriber bump of 145%, but the moment belonged to headliners Coldplay, who saw a subscriber bump of 234% for their Super Bowl debut.

    Love For the Halftime Show’s Songs

    It’s clear that even established artists with vast worldwide fanbases can grow their audience online as a result of playing the Super Bowl Halftime stage. The songs they play on game day reach millions of listeners around the world. They grow even more popular as old fans reconnect with past favorites and new listeners discover tracks for the first time. Among all Super Bowl Halftime artists over the last four years, who has had the largest increase in views for the songs that they performed?


    Among the past four years’ headliners — Coldplay, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and Beyoncé — it was Beyoncé who had the greatest increase in YouTube video views for songs performed at the Super Bowl (a 54.8% increase). This was more than double the increase in views for Coldplay (27%), Katy Perry (23.9%), and Bruno Mars (21%).

    This year, Lady Gaga is set to entertain the millions watching Super Bowl LI. Check back here for more Super Bowl analyses!

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